Barnett Institute of Chemical and Biological Analysis records

The Barnett Institute of Chemical Analysis and Materials Science was established at Northeastern University in 1973 as the Institute of Chemical Analysis, Applications and Forensic Science. It was founded by Barry Karger and Bill Giessen, professors of chemistry; Norman Rosenblatt, Dean of the College of Criminal Justice; and Karl Weiss, Chair of the Chemistry Department, with a grant from the United States Department of Justice. The Institute spearheaded graduate education and research in analytical chemistry, materials science, and forensic science, and was internationally recognized for its research accomplishments by the early 1980s. In 1983, Dr. Louis Barnett, recipient of a 1977 Honorary Doctorate in Engineering from Northeastern, and his wife Madilyn Barnett contributed a major endowment for the Institute, leading to the renaming of the Institute as the Barnett Institute of Chemical Analysis and Materials Science. In 1985, Dr. James L. Waters, also a recipient of a 1977 Honorary Doctorate from Northeastern, established the James L. Waters Chair in Analytical Chemistry. This was followed in 1993 by a second named chair, the Bradstreet Chair in Bioanalytical Chemistry, established in memory of Raymond and Claire Bradstreet. Raymond Bradstreet was a Northeastern alumnus and recipient of a 1988 Honorary Doctorate from Northeastern. The Institute continued to grow its international reputation, and in 1989 began co-sponsoring the annual International Symposia on High Performance Capillary Electrophoresis. The Institute also established the Rosenblatt Memorial Lecture series in 1992 in memory of co-founder Dr. Norman Rosenblatt. With a shift in the research focuses of the Institute, the name was changed again in 2000 to the Barnett Institute of Chemical and Biological Analysis.